Musk has been ranked the world’s richest person since May 2024, when he surpassed LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, who held the title for roughly four months after a Delaware judge voided Musk’s Tesla pay package. Forbes reported.
Google cofounder Larry Page ranks the second-wealthiest person with a net worth estimated at $256.9 billion, followed by Oracle chair Larry Ellison ($245 billion), Amazon’s Jeff Bezos ($242.2 billion) and Page’s counterpart Sergey Brin ($237.1 billion) rounding out the top five.
A record-breaking rally for Musk’s wealth this year followed his net worth eclipsing $300 billion in November 2024. He became the first person to be worth $400 billion the following month, only to become the first person to be worth half a trillion dollars in October. Musk reached the $600 billion valuation earlier this month, then topped $700 billion four days later. Those leaps followed Musk’s SpaceX launching a tender offer valuing the firm at $800 billion, up from $400 billion in August, boosting his net worth by roughly $168 billion. The Delaware Supreme Court then overturned a lower court ruling that voided Musk’s Tesla stock options worth roughly $139 billion, increasing his net worth to nearly $750 billion. Forbes had discounted the value of the stock options by 50% since January 2024. Musk is on the path to becoming the first person to be worth $1 trillion: Tesla shareholders approved a compensation package for Musk in November that could be worth close to $1 trillion, should the company achieve several goals over the next decade.
